MANUEL MENDES SOEIRO, was born in the island of Madeira, as a son of Gaspar Rodrigues Nunes, an anuss (Jew forced to convert to Christianity).

After appearing in an auto-de-fe in Lisbon, as a penitent, the father escaped with his family to Amsterdam, where he took the name of Joseph Ben-Israel. Joseph was the name of one of the sons of the patriarch Jacob (Israel) also known as Joseph of Egypt, who had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Those were the names that Gaspar Rodrigues Nunes, alias Joseph Ben-Israel, gave to his two sons.

Manasseh became a member of the Hevrah for Talmud Torah at the age of 12, began to frequent the yeshivot when he was 14, made his first public oration in Portuguese when he was 15 and at 17 wrote his first book, Safah Berurah, an umpublished grammatical work.

In 1622 he succeeded R. Isaac Uzziel as preacher to the Neveh Shalom congregation.

He founded the earliest Hebrew printing press in Amsterdam (1626), where he published works in Hebrew, Spanish and Portuguese for the remainder of his life.

Penei Rabbah, his index to the Midrashim, appeared in 1628. The first part of his Conciliador (1632, in Spanish, afterward in Latin), reconciling apparently discordant biblical passages, gained him a great reputation in Christian circles. The remaining three parts appeared in Spanish only (1641, 1651).

Many of his works were largely directed to non-Jews: The Creatione, De Termino Vitae, De Resurrectione Mortuorum, De Fragilitated Humana – all in Latin.

For the sake of the Portuguese anussim he wrote and published Thesouro dos Dinim, a code of Jewish Law.

Other works were: Piedra Gloriosa, Nishmat Hayyim, The Hope of Israel (Esperanza de Israel), the last being a description of the reported discovery of the Lost Ten Tribes in South America.

In an effort to solicit the goodwill of the English parliament toward the return of the Jews to England, Manasseh dedicated to them the Latin edition of his Esperanza.

Find a book in the following list. When you click on it, you will be transfered to the site of UVA. Please locate there the book you wish to read. Those are publications by Menasseh Ben Israel’s printing house:

Sefer 'elim and Ma'ayan ganim
By Joseph Solomon Delmedigo.
Mathematical questions by Zerah ben Nathan and solutions by the author.
Amsterdam: Menasseh Ben Israel, 5388-89 (= 1628-29).
First part finished 8 Elul 5389 (27 August 1629).
With mathematical illustrations and illustrations of astronomical instruments.
Portrait of the author, engraved by W. Delff after a painting by C. Duyster in second part

Zekher rav
By Benjamin Musaphia. Adaptation of the biblical story of Creation in which the stems of all Hebrew words have been used once.
This is the only edition with a preface.
Amsterdam: Menasseh Ben Israel, 5395 (= 1635).
36 ff. 24°.

De Creatione Problemata XXX:cum summarijs singulorum problematum, & indice locorum Scripturae, quae hoc opere explicantur.
Amstelodami, typis & sumptibus auctoris, 1635.
The printer's mark represents a socalled magical square, divided into 9 little squares; the consonanhave been arranged in such a way that horizontally as well as vertically the same three Psalm words can be read: Psalm 85 verse 11

Sefer Tehillim. Psalms
Amsterdam: Menasseh Ben Israel, 5395 (= 1635).
90 ff. 24°.
There is also another edition consisting of 94 leaves including 'Sumptibus Iansonii' on the title page.

Bible (vocalized)
Corrected by Menasseh Ben Israel. Ordered and financed by Hendrik Laurentius.
Title in Latin. Preface by Menasseh Ben Israel, both in Hebrew and in Latin.
Four parts, all parts have separate title pages.
497 ff. 4°.

MinhagimRites throughout the year in Poland, Ruthenia, Lithuania, Bohemia, Moravia and Germany.
By Aisik Tyrnan.
Amsterdam: Menasseh Ben Israel, 1635.

Mizmor letodah, Psalm of gratitude
By David ben Menahem Hacohen.
The very rare first Yiddish book printed in Amsterdam.
The text in Ashkenazic half-cursive types (the socalled 'waybertaytsh' types); each page surrounded by a decorative border.
Rhymed Yiddish version of biblical stories from Genesis to Exodus 22 and four scrolls: Song of Songs, Ruth, Ecclesiastes, Esther.